Debian Long Term Support

Traditionally, Debian manages security support of a given stable release
until the next stable release plus one year. Roughly, this amounts to 3 years which
is not enough for many organizations and does not allow to deploy version N+2
once N is no longer supported. The Debian LTS team wants to fix this by
extending the security support of Debian releases to at least 5 years:

To achieve this goal, and properly cover all Debian packages, Freexian
organizes a corporate sponsorship campaign with the goal of funding the
equivalent of a full time position that will in fact be split over
multiple Debian contributors who are established as independent workers.
Here is a (manually updated) progress bar showing the current funding
level (it is a number of hours per month, with an hourly rate of 85 EUR/hour):

100%

50% (Half-time)

97.89% (172.28 h)

If you are not yet convinced, here are seven reasons why you
should help fund the Debian Long Term Support initiative
(LTS):

Ensure that the packages that you rely on get priority in terms of
security support;

Ensure that security updates will not generate regressions in
your production infrastructure by providing functional tests to
run before release;

Benefit from direct contact to the LTS staff in case
of specific queries and requests;

Influence future developments made by the sponsored developers so that
Debian continues to fit your needs;

Generate goodwill among the free software community thanks to
your appearance in the list of sponsors;

Even if you do not use Debian 7 currently, you ensure that
Debian 8 and Debian 9 will also benefit from long term support. If
Debian 7 LTS cannot be funded, it is unlikely that Debian 8/9 LTS will
happen;

Benefit from the experience of people from other
Debian-using companies thanks to a private mailing list.

Once you have submitted your subscription form, Freexian
will prepare an invoice and send it to you for immediate payment.

Payment methods

You can opt for any of the following payment methods. They are listed by
order of preference (preferred first):

SEPA Direct Debit (EUR only). For companies in SEPA countries, we can
automatically debit your bank account. You have to fill the SEPA mandate
in the subscription form.

Credit/Debit Card (EUR/USD). Click here to access
an online payment form letting you pay with a credit card. You can
automate payments over a year.

Manual wire transfer (EUR only). When you get the invoice, you
manually initiate a wire transfer on our bank account (IBAN+BIC are on the
invoice). For SEPA countries, this is called SEPA Credit Transfer.

PayPal (EUR/USD). Click here to access
PayPal payment forms letting you either setup a recurring payment
or complete a single payment.

Progress reports

Even though the target has not yet been reached, the project is
underway. Freexian is paying Debian contributors to work on Debian LTS
and they are doing their best to keep the packages used by sponsors of
this initiative as secure as possible. Checkout Freexian's monthly
reports on Raphaël Hertzog's blog.

Contributing companies and organizations

We would like to thank all entities that contribute towards Long Term Support of
Debian 7 “Wheezy” and future releases.

Platinum level

TOSHIBA(for 12 months)

GitHub(for 3 months)

Gold level

The Positive Internet(for 28 months)

Blablacar(for 27 months)

Linode LLC(for 17 months)

Babiel GmbH(for 6 months)

Plat'Home(for 6 months)

UR Communications BV

Silver level

Domeneshop AS(for 27 months)

Université Lille 3(for 27 months)

Trollweb Solutions(for 25 months)

Nantes Métropole(for 21 months)

University of Luxembourg(for 19 months)

Dalenys(for 18 months)

Univention GmbH(for 13 months)

Université Jean Monnet de St Etienne(for 13 months)

Sonus Networks(for 7 months)

maxcluster GmbH

Bronze level

Disclaimer

Although the aim of those contracts is to fund work time to Debian
developers, those contracts are managed by Freexian and not by
Software in the Public Interest (the
legal entity representing the Debian project).